Crimson Falls
by rent-serenity
Summary: The nineteen years of peace are over. As Albus Potter steps foot into Hogwarts, a dark presence appears more ominous and dangerous than ever before. Darker friendships. A race for power. And a undeniable threat of death. A new era has begun.


**Ships:** None really, as they're really only eleven. But I might make James with someone. TL/VW.

**Era:** Albus Potter years.

**Disclaimer:** Based on the Epilogue of JK Rowling's 7th book. I don't own any of the characters, except those you don't recognize, but they're probably descendents of characters from the hp era.

**Author's Message:**

This takes place almost directly after the epilogue. There are many Weasley's, but hopefully it's clear on who's children they are, though there are only a few introduced in this chapter.

Also, I imagine that the most Harry and Ginny ever told their children about You-Know-Who would be the very basics, which would be why they were curious why all the other kids were staring at their dad, though Ron probably told his children a bit more, considering his bragging rights ;)

Hope you enjoy.

**Chapter 01**

As the train slowly came into motion, Albus Potter watched from the window his father and mother getting smaller and smaller in the distance; when they were out of sight he came to the sudden realization that he was alone. Where had Rose gone?

His stomach flip flopped nervously as he ventured down the train, looking into compartments. He certainly wasn't going to go sit with his brother, and he was sure James wouldn't allow him if he tried. Inside one compartment he found Victoire, his cousin sitting with his other cousin Courtney Weasley, the oldest Weasley's at school. They smiled to him as he passed and Courtney gave him a small wave which he returned; her dad, Charlie was his second favorite Uncle next to Ron.

He knew that many of his cousin's were all on the train, and any number of them probably wouldn't be too happy if he latched himself next to them. He passed a girl with blonde hair, she looked like a second year wearing clothes of the most ridiculous shades of red and blue and orange that didn't match and she smiled serenely at him as she entered a compartment.

Finally he found Rose in a compartment; she hurriedly opened the door when she saw him.

"Al, where have you been? I want you to meet someone," she said happily.

He moved into the compartment and found the pale blonde boy his Uncle had specifically told Rose to "not get too friendly" with. Rose had this funny way of rebelling against her parents and Albus wasn't sure where she had gotten it from, no one else in her family seemed very against rule breaking just for the sake of rule breaking like she was.

"This is Scorpius, Scorpius this is my cousin Albus," she said with a bright smile.

Scorpius nodded, but a lot less enthusiastically than Rose. "Hi."

"Hey," he returned. "Nice to meet you."

Rose helped him put up his stuff into the overhead compartments.

"You have an owl?" Scorpius asked, his voice had a distinct drawl.

"Yeah, his name is Polly, my sister named him after a Muggle movie, you know, Pirates," Albus said as he took his seat.

The blonde stared at him like he had grown an extra ear but ignored him. "My mum wouldn't let me have an owl, said I had to buy it myself if I really wanted one, but my dad went out and got one for me, but an eagle. I find that eagles are much more intelligent than owls."

It was Albus' turn to stare at Scorpius with a dumbfounded look. Scorpius talked like the privileged in laws on Rose's side of the family that he had once visited, and he didn't care much for them.

"I've always wanted an eagle!" Rose said delightedly. "They can eat much bigger things than owls, and much more vicious. Are they reliable for mail?"

"He hasn't failed me once yet," he replied, then he turned back to Albus. "So, my father said he knew your dad. They were in school together."

"Oh, yeah." He nodded. "They didn't really get along too much."

"He went to school with my dad too!" Rose piped in. "They hated each other."

"Funny, my dad didn't say anything about any of that," Scorpius said, looking them over.

"Really?" Rose asked.

"He just said that Potter's had a lot of prospect for good magic. He's told me all about your dad and You-Know-Who and how he defeated him."

"What are you talking about?" Albus asked, frowning. His father had mentioned You-Know-Who, but he had never given them many details.

"Yeah, what _are _you talking about?" Rose asked, quite as interested as he was.

Scorpius shrugged. "It's a long story. I can't believe you don't know any of it. Then again, my parents doesn't like to speak much about the past either."

"Yeah, mine don't either, well, dad does, but mum shuts him up all the time," Rose said. "Anyway, are you guys excited?"

Albus wanted to change the subject back onto his dad, to find out what Scorpius knew that he didn't, but he dropped it.

"A bit," the blonde said. "I can't wait for potions."

"Me too," Albus said. "Potions and transfiguration, I want to learn to be an animagi."

"That would be wicked," Scorpius agreed, his pompous tone lessoning.

"What house do you think you'll be in?" he asked Scorpius, he already knew Rose was undoubtedly going to be put into Gryffindor, she was a Weasley after all and so far all the Weasley's had been put there.

"Slytherin," Scorpius said with no hesitation. "Definitely Slytherin."

He stared at him, he was saying it like it wasn't a bad thing. And he had been hearing James going on and on about how all Slytherin's were evil and to be dueled at all open chances. Was Scorpius evil?

"But, isn't that the evil house?" Rose asked him. "Wouldn't you rather be in Gryffindor?"

"It's not evil. Just because we're cunning doesn't make us evil, and anyway, I'd chose Ravenclaw over Gryffindor any day."

"Why?" Al asked.

"Because intelligence is far more useful than bravery," he replied casually. "But I will be in Slytherin, my whole family has been for centuries. Where do you think you'll be?"

"Well," he said. "My mom and dad and their whole family have been in Gryffindor. So is my brother, but I have this feeling that I'm going to end up in Slytherin," he said in a nervous disappointed tone.

"That would be awesome," Scorpius said. "Then we'd be sharing a dorm. Which is supposed to be really cool."

"Yeah," Albus muttered, he wasn't sure how he felt about Slytherin anymore, not after his father's talk and how he would be able to chose where he wanted to be, but what if the hat didn't listen to him?

"I'm going to be in Gryffindor," Rose said. "Though Ravenclaw wouldn't be too bad. I'd like to be thrown in Hufflepuff though, just to see the look on my dads face. Could you imagine it, Al?"

Al laughed. Uncle Ron would be immensely angry and disappointed and Aunt Hermione would smack him and tell her how proud she was.

"I don't understand the point of Hufflepuff," Scorpius drawled. "It's like they needed a place to put all the people that didn't have any talent or personality or something."

Albus didn't reply, finding this a very rude thing to say.

"The Hufflepuff house is for people who value friendship, and cousin Fred's best friend is a Hufflepuff and he is a genius."

"You just think he's cute," Al said teasingly.

"Do not!"

"Uh-huh, I'm sure," he cousin said, laughing as her face turned a deep red that matched her hair.

Before she could make a retort, there was a knock on the door, James was standing there, his friends no where in sight. He opened the door and stepped in.

"Hey lil' bro, Rosie, what's up?" His gaze fell onto Scorpius. "Hey, aren't you that Malfoy kid?"

Scorpius nodded. "Yeah, what of it?"

"Cody was saying he knew you," James said, pushing up his glasses that actually made him more mature rather than nerdy. His brother had flaming red hair in contrast to Albus' black hair, but they both were freckled and fair skinned. Albus didn't have glasses, but he did have his father's green eyes, where as his brother had his mother's amber ones.

"Nott?" he asked. "He's your friend?"

"Yes, shocking a Gryffindor and Slytherin can be friends, you sound like Rosie's dad," James said looking him over.

Albus looked over his brother with a look of confusion. He hadn't known Cody was a Slytherin. Why was James going on and on about how Slytherin's were evil?

"I thought you hated Slytherin's!" he accused him.

James laughed. "I do. Most of them are pompous arrogant evil…err fools," he said as he looked nervously over at his cousin, correcting himself before he said something ruder.

"Go away, James," Rose said. "You just like to scare your brother. But Al wants to be in Slytherin, don't you Al?"

"What?" Al said, looking at her, terrified. "I dunno."

"That's because he's _evil," _James said, laughing. "Well, later, bro. Good luck being sorted, hopefully you won't be killed."

Albus's stomach tightened again as James left. He was very nervous about the sorting ceremony, of which even his parents would just smile when he asked them about it. He wondered what they would have to do...

"Don't mind him," Rose said and Albus wasn't sure if she was talking to him or Scorpius. "He's full of himself, but he's very funny."

"Incredibly witty," Scorpius said, Albus laughed.

"Do you have any siblings?" he asked.

"No, only child, though my dad wants me to have a brother," he said grudgingly then changed the topic immediately. "So, I've been practicing some simple charms, you know, before we're not allowed to cause of that trace, and I've got quite the hang of it I think. I'm not really worried about charms class, or Defense, how about you guys?"

"Oh, my mum's been teaching me loads of stuff and everything has been easy so far, poor Hugo though, he's been struggling through a lot of it."

"Everything I've tried has been really easy," Albus said, recalling back. "Dad says I have my mum's talent for charms, and my Grandma's talent for potions. I suck at Defense though."

As the train went along, speeding past empty overgrown fields, they lapsed into silence, watching out the windows and pondering what Hogwarts was going to be like.

Around half past twelve there was a loud clatter of noise and a young woman with wild hair slid back their door and said, "Care for some sweets?"

Rose leapt off her feet and bought a dozen Cauldron Cakes. "For us to share," she explained to the boys when they remarked on how many she had bought.

"Anything for you two?" she asked.

Albus' stomach gurgled out of nerves and hunger but he shook his head, he wasn't going to be able to eat before the sorting, plus, he had a feast to look forward to at the school.

"I'll take some chocolate frogs," Scorpius said.

When Scorpius and Rose sat back in their seats, Rose beamed at the blonde. "You know, my father and mother _and _Al's father are on those."

"Yeah, I know," Scorpius said, opening one up and catching the frog in mid-jump. "That's how my father told me about Harry Potter, because he saw him on one of the cards."

"What did you get?" Al asked, he had never seen his father's card, though he had seen Ron's, who showed it to nearly everyone he met.

"Albus Dumbledore…hey he has your name," Scorpius remarked.

He nodded. "I'm named after him."

Scorpius suddenly looked out towards the corridor. "Hey, there's Zabini, he's in our year. I'm going to go talk to him."

"Alright," Rose said, biting into a pumpkin pasty.

He exited and Albus caught sight of a dark boy with large brown eyes.

"Want one?" Rose was offering him a pasty.

"No thanks," he declined. "We better change into our robes," he said, noticing the time.

They changed into their robes and by the time they had finished, the door opened, Scorpius came in with Zabini and they were laughing about something. When their laughter quickly subsided Zabini looked around at them.

"Tony, this is Rose and Albus," Scorpius introduced them.

He nodded his head and looked them over carefully. "Weasley?" he asked Rose, frowning a bit.

She nodded. "So is he." She pointed to her cousin. "Only he's a Potter technically."

"Potter?" Zabini said intrigued.

"Yeah."

There was moment of silence where Zabini looked like he wanted to say something and then changed his mind.

"Well, I better go get changed," he said, "I expect I'll see you at school," he said only to Albus and Scorpius. He passed a look of disgust onto Rose and then left out the compartment.

Albus had a strong urge to hex him, nobody had a right to judge Rose for no good reason.

"What's got you?" Scorpius asked him.

"Why did he glare at her? So what that she is a Weasley?"

Scorpius grinned and practically sneered, "Well, it is uncommon for purebloods to associate with, well, you know."

"No, I don't know," Albus said, glaring at him.

"You're cruel," Rose said, a bit upset. "I don't think it matters what kind of blood you are, as long as you're a decent person. Plus most of the Weasley's are pure blood, it's only me and Hugo who aren't."

Scorpius shrugged. "Hey, I don't mind you; it's just how he was raised. My father raised me to respect the people he respected, and since he respected your dad, I respect the Potter's and by association, I guess you because Al does. So be it for me to judge you," he said smoothly, pulling out his own robes from his suit case.

A voice echoed through the train, interrupting Rose's reply. "We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

Albus gulped and he even saw Scorpius shift nervously as he pulled on his robes.

"You excited? I'm excited," Rose said in a breath. "Want a pasty?" she offered Scorpius.

"No," he said. "Can't eat now."

"You nervous?" she teased, but her voice was uneven.

"I'd say the same about you," he teased her back.

"Nah-uh," she said.

Scorpius raised his eye and then laughed. "A little childish banter, anyone, anyone?"

Albus laughed, if it had been Hugo or Lily, they would have just said "Uh-huh" and it would have gone on like that for quite a long time. He was glad that Scorpius didn't fall into such a ridiculous trap. He was also glad to know that Rose had to be especially nervous because she had barely given out any useless facts that she was so known to give on a normal basis.

They headed out of their compartment and into the large crowd in the corridor.

The train slowed right down and finally stopped. Scorpius pushed his way to the door and Albus and Rose followed closely after him stepping out on to a tiny, dark platform. The night air reached them and they all shivered from the cold.

In the distance he saw him, a giant man with a very gray hair and black eyes, holding a lamp. He was shouting for the first years and when he caught sight of Rose and Albus he gave a huge smile and waved them over.

"How are ya, Al, Rosie?"

"Good, Hagrid." Rose beamed back.

Scorpius watched him with apprehension.

"Firs' years follow me!" he said and began to lead them away.

They followed him down a steep and narrow path, trees on either side of them.

"Yeh'll be able the see Hogwarts in a momen'," he said as they continued.

Albus let out a gasp as the castle came into view. There was a great black lake and mountains on either side of the large school. It was unlike anything he had dreamed it to be.

"No more'n four to a boat," Hagrid said. They all looked to see boats sitting on the shore by the water.

Scorpius followed Zabini into a boat and just as Rose and him were about to follow two dark haired girls moved into the boat. Scorpius looked at them expectantly, as if saying they should demand the two girls leave but Zabini gave yet another dirty look to Rose, and Albus went looking for another boat.

"I'll see you up at the castle then," Scorpius said.

"See you," he and Rose said. They piled into a boat with a scrawny looking boy with brown hair and a girl with honey brown hair and jade eyes.

"I'm Julia Hope," said the girl.

"Matt Whence," the boy said with a small squeak, it was quite clear he was nervous.

"Everyone in?" shouted Hagrid, he was in a boat to himself. "Right then – forward!"

The boats started to glide across the water and they all watched the castle steadily approaching.

"Did you know a giant squid lives in this lake? A merpeople; mermish is one of the hardest languages to learn but I really want to," Rose said, jitters getting the better of her bad habit of listing random facts.

Matt sank lower into his seat at the words of 'giant squid' and Julia peered in hopefully, as if wanting to see such a creature.

"Have you ever heard of grindylows?"

Matt looked like he wanted to ask her to stop speaking, but instead he just concentrated on the back of his eyelids breathing in and out very slowly.

They finally reach an underground harbor and they all clambered out and onto rocks and pebbles.

Scorpius caught sight of them and they made their ways towards him, Julia following them. One of the girls was looking at the blonde with a look of superiority.

"You're a disgrace to your blood line," she sneered.

"Oh yeah, cause that makes sense," he sneered back. "Just cause I don't want everyone to worship me doesn't mean I don't care about traditions. Plus, you're a flawed person, nobody is going to respect you."

"I don't have flaws, everyone is going to worship me! I don't see why you wouldn't want the same royal treatment," she said, sticking her nose in the air.

Scorpius laughed annoyed. "Oh yes, cause I really want that. Everyone bow at my feet, for they are holy and I am perfect," he sneered at her.

Albus grinned and she looked at him angrily. "What are you grinning at?"

"I was just noticing how nobody looks like they're about to jump in and respect you anytime soon is all," he said, Scorpius started to grin. "Oh look, she might bow at your feet if you ask right," he said, glancing at the girl who had been in the boat with her and was giving him a very evil glare.

"Come on, every'n, come on," Hagrid ushered them along.

Scorpius whispered, "Nice one," as he, Albus, Rose and Julia all started for the castle.

"That was brilliant," Rose remarked to both of them. "What was that about anyway?"

"Nothing," Scorpius said quickly and then pointed to the castle. "This place is huge."

"Ohh," Rose squealed happily. "I'm excited!"

"Me too!" Julia said, and both girls hurried to the front. Scorpius and Albus smiled and followed after.

They stopped in front of a large oak front door and Hagrid raised his fist and knocked three times upon the castle door.

---

**A/N:**

So some lines are directly taken from the 1st book, but I tried to mix it up.

Also, if Rose is a bit annoying, it's mostly just nerves, she gets like Hermione, only much much worse.

And I'd like to know what everyone is shipping that's reading so that way I can write to the people and not my own whims So tell me which ship you support more: Scorpius/Rose, Scorpius/Lily or Scorpius/Albus.

Thank you for reading, please R&R.


End file.
